Court clerk’s offices to be closed on Wednesdays Chief Justice Moore ordered cost-cutting measure across state

The Tuscaloosa County Circuit and District Court Clerk’s offices will be closed to the public each Wednesday beginning today.

Staff members will work normal hours, but will be unavailable to the public.

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore ordered that all circuit and district court clerk’s offices close to the public on Wednesdays. The March 8 order states that the judicial system is expected to experience a $13 million shortfall for fiscal year 2013.District Court Clerk Libby Hamner said that her staff of 10 full-time employees and two part-time employees are doing the work that 26 people did just a few years ago. The staff is not behind, she said, but will use the extra time on Wednesdays to complete some larger projects.

Someone please explain to me HOW this will cut costs. Employees will still be paid even if they are NOT dealing with the public on Wednesday's. I do understand that the employees who will be working on Wed. will be able to get a lot of stuff done but just the fact that they show up to work on that day and will still get paid does not save money.

Do they get paid extra on days when the do deal with the public? I doubt they will be working for free or a lower wage on Wednesday's. If they still get paid for working that doesn't cut any costs. The only ones affected by it are those who would go to the offices to conduct business.

edit to add article title

Last edited by Evie210 on Wed Mar 20, 2013 10:42 am, edited 2 times in total.

It doesn't cut costs. More political BS. If it makes it inconvenient for the taxpayer, ie, we the people, then they government hopes you won't vote down tax increases or complain about their overspending. They do crap like this to force you to accept that they are going to take more money from you to waste on more of their programs. The tax payers should force their hand and make them work the jobs they were hired and payed to do.BIC

If it's like what's been happening in other counties the office has had to lay off several employees. I have friends that work in the clerk's office in Jasper and I think they have lost 3-4 employees and the time the office is closed to the public allows them to catch up on court filings that is difficult to do while also dealing with the public.

If I have to pull up my big girl panties and deal with certain things just one more time, the elastic is going to break and I really will show my ass. I'm just sayin..

Moore is a Republican. The Republicans said the state does't need any more tax revenue - we have enough - we just need to be more efficient, cut out waste, etc.So now a Republican can't provide adequate, required service with the existing funds.Sounds like he's either wasteful, inefficient or the Republicans were wrong - the State does need to increase taxes?? And now the Legislature is going to give away a bunch of revenue to punish the AEA,Seems like the boys on Goat Hill are living in a fantasy world. Maybe we should pay them with fantasy money, the same money they will offer your school system.

Samarye wrote:Moore is a Republican. The Republicans said the state does't need any more tax revenue - we have enough - we just need to be more efficient, cut out waste, etc.So now a Republican can't provide adequate, required service with the existing funds.Sounds like he's either wasteful, inefficient or the Republicans were wrong - the State does need to increase taxes?? And now the Legislature is going to give away a bunch of revenue to punish the AEA,Seems like the boys on Goat Hill are living in a fantasy world. Maybe we should pay them with fantasy money, the same money they will offer your school system.

Does the News have it wrong in the article title, which clearly states "cost cutting"?

Maybe they do (it wouldn't be the first time). I've looked up a few other articles regarding this and none of them specifically mention it as a cost cutting measure.

It seems it may instead be a way for underfunded offices to play "catch up".

In an effort to deal with the severe underfunding of the judicial system in Alabama, Chief Justice Roy Moore has ordered all circuit and district clerks to close their offices to the public on Wednesdays. This move is designed to enable the clerks offices to handle their workload while dealing with their staff shortages